Beach Update: Mixed Gender Roster Rules, Spring Nationals, Major Fall Event?

Here is the latest about USA Ultimate's beach ultimate division.

December 18, 2015 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 0 comments

USA Ultimate continues to recap its Competition Working Group meetings that help set the agenda for the upcoming year in each division. Here is a summary of the changes and suggestions from the Beach Working Group.

– The 2016 Beach National Championships are already scheduled for May 14-15 in Virginia Beach.

– There will be new rostering rules for the Mixed and Mixed Masters Divisions at the Beach National Championships designed to “promote and celebrate the sport’s unique commitment to gender equity.” The difference between the number men and women on those teams cannot exceed one. The Beach Working Group is also considering “experimental events” with a 4v4 (2 men, 2 women at all times) format. Those events would also test “various rules and field dimensions.”

– “WFDF agreed to give USA Ultimate’s Beach Working Group representation on the WFDF Beach Committee beginning in 2016.”

– The group “reaffirmed its commitment to hosting the USA Ultimate Beach National Championships in the spring,” “primarily because it provided a natural culmination to the traditional winter/spring beach season.”

– There is “considerable interest” in hosting a major fall beach event as well. The major consideration is a “mixed division, international-level tournament.”

– Next spring, USAU will announce the application process for the 2017 World Championships of Beach Ultimate. Normally this event is held every four years, but WFDF added a two-year cycle in order to shift the event to better fit into the long-term calendar.